Colombia: Chivor
Chivor is one of the towns in Colombia that produce emeralds. Other areas like the states and Africa produce emeralds too, but many emerald connoisseurs claim that only emeralds from Colombia are the true ones. The ones in Colombia are produced in sedimentary rocks, but the others are in metamorphic. I read on a blog that in Chivor you can go visit the mines, so off I went!
If you don’t have your own car, the only way to get to Chivor is from Bogota taking a bus for seven hours, and there’s only two buses to and from. The bus company Flota la macarena runs from the Bogota bus terminal for 35k pesos. The ride is long, dusty, and extremely bumpy but comes with great views!
There is a tour service that runs from Bogota but charges a lot for the roundtrip transportation. The other option that I found is run by people at Hostal Anny in Chivor for roughly $300 USD. So I booked two nights there, and when I arrived in Chivor late night, the managers of the tour and the hostel were there waiting for me! Sonia and Hugo were so welcoming as if they were my aunt and uncle. On the first floor of the building, they have a workshop/store combo with interesting emerald jewelry that Hugo made.
The town is extremely small so you don’t have too many dinner options, but I got some more empanadas at a fast-food place two blocks away!
The tour starts off with a breakfast at a neighbor’s house where you can enjoy food of your choice (chosen the night before) with a conversation with a real family who lives in this town! I had arepas from the area, and arepas here were a lot more cakey and cheesy than those of the other regions. I also had another dish for breakfast that resembles a tamale but is different, and I don’t recall what the name is, but it is famous here! Afterwards you come back to the hostel, where Hugo teaches you about the details of emeralds and how to work with them.
With a helmet, headlamp, boots, and a pick axe Hugo and I got in a car and drove for about half an hour to the mining camp. Hugo spends time to explain the history and the current layout of the mines. Many miners live here full time and a few women live here as full time cooks for those miners.
We stopped at a few older mines to see what we can find, then we went to a current mine with other miners. Then the other miners showed me where to axe and what to look for, and I got to witness dynamites being set off! As soon as I walked in, I got a little scared from the thickness of the air, the darkness, and the claustrophobia inducing walls — but thankfully I was in there only for short periods of times, and everyone was super helpful. The miners were a fun and friendly bunch that thought it was hilarious and awesome that I did martial arts. I only found a little bit of small pieces, and some of the miner guys were super nice and gave me what they found that day!
A lot of what I found was in the rocks that they bring out from within the mine. A bunch of people cluster around and wash the rocks with water to find pieces that have emerald embedded in them.
After, we came back to the shop to shape and polish the emeralds! About an hour of work on each stone, you get a sellable and beautiful stone!
I mentioned to Sonia that I loved all the exotic fruits, and she brought some feijoas for all of us to eat!
For a super late lunch, Sonia, Hugo and I went to a different house to have some Colombian tamales, home made juice, and a dessert I don’t remember!
